Google Using Unfair Tactics for Search Results, Rivals Say

A number of online retailers are reportedly irked about Google's search result tactics, arguing that Google places results for its own services more prominently, to the detriment of competitors. Google, however, argued that it makes decisions based on what's best for its customers.

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A number of online retailers are reportedly irked about Google's search result tactics, arguing that Google places results for its own services more prominently, to the detriment of competitors.

Google, however, argued that it makes decisions based on what's best for its customers. "We built Google for users, not websites," the company said.

In a Sunday Wall Street Journalarticle, executives from companies like TripAdvisor.com, health site WebMD.com and local-business reviews sites Yelp.com and Citysearch.com, among others, said that links for their companies are showing up below results for Google's own services.

For example, Google might display a result for a restaurant within its Places Page feature above a link to the actual restaurant. Places Pages, which launched in Google Maps last year, creates an individual Place Page microsite for cities and companies. "A Place Page is a Web page for every place in the world, organizing all the world's information for that place," Google said at launch. "And we really mean every place: there are Place Pages for businesses, points of interest, transit stations, landmarks, and cities all over the world."

For sites like TripAdvisor, WebMD, or Yelp - which count on users searching within their own sites for specialized information about travel, medical data, or places of interest, the priority placement is unfair, the told the Journal.

"There is no denying that today Google is competing [with many websites] for the same Web traffic and the same advertising dollars," Jay Herratti, chief executive of CityGrid Media, which owns Citysearch, Urbanspoon.com, and InsiderPages.com, told the paper.

Google defended its practices. "When people come to Google looking for information about places like restaurants, shoe stores, parks or museums, our goal is to provide them with answers as quickly as possible and presented in a way that's easy to read and understand," Carter Maslan, director of product management, wrote in a blog post. "Sometimes the most useful information is a direct link to a businessother times it's a map or a list of review sites."

Maslan said that Google Places Pages "makes it much easier to see and compare places and find great sites with local information." Webmasters have also told Google that "Place pages help them reach a broader audience when users click through to learn more," he said.

When asked if there were plans for formal regulatory complaints or lawsuits, a WebMD spokesman said "WebMD has not filed any formal complaints, but we'll continue to watch what Google is doing very carefully."

"We don't think that Google Places benefits users at this time with the experience of selecting the right hotel," TripAdvisor said in a statement. "As a result, we are continuing to limit the TripAdvisor content available on those pages. In the meantime, we are in constant discussions with Google."

CityGrid said it could not comment on legal issues. Yelp did not respond to a request for comment.

Other companies, however, have already filed complaints. Last month, the European Commission said it had opened an antitrust investigation into Google over allegations that the company abused its dominant position in online search.

That issue dates back to February, when the EU announced it had received complaints from Foundem, a French legal search engine called ejustice.fr, and Ciao! from Bing. Julia Holtz, Google's competition counsel, said at the time that two of the companies - Ciao! from Bing, a Microsoft acquisition; and Foundem - had ties to rival Microsoft. Ciao was purchased by Microsoft in 2008. The EU has now opened a formal investigation into those complaints.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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